Astros  3    Padres  1

Houston Astros (35-38) at San Diego Padres (33-41), 10:05 p.m.

Sports Network | June 29, 2009

(Sports Network) - Roy Oswalt has enjoyed success throughout his career against the San Diego Padres and will take the mound tonight for the Houston Astros in the opener of a four-game series at Petco Park.

Oswalt is 9-2 with a 2.87 earned run average in 14 career games (12 starts) against the Padres, and beat them on May 10 of this season. In a 12-5 victory over San Diego at Minute Maid Park, Oswalt allowed four runs and six hits in six innings of work.

The right-hander is 2-2 over his last five starts and did not record a decision his last time out Wednesday versus Kansas City. Oswalt was reached for just one run on seven hits in six innings of a 4-3 loss and remained 3-4 through 16 starts this season. He did lower his ERA from 4.48 to 4.30.

Houston will try to get back in the win column Monday and lost its bid for a three-game sweep of Detroit with Sunday's 4-3 loss in the series finale. Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence and Kaz Matsui each had an RBI for the Astros, who had a three-game win streak stopped and will open a seven-game road trip versus the Padres and Giants tonight.

"This one hurts (real bad). Probably one of the worst ones of the year for me," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "We let it slip."

San Diego won the last two meetings of a three-game series at Texas over the weekend, but is only 5-10 over the past 15 games. The Padres recorded a 2-0 victory on Sunday thanks to starter Chad Gaudin's eight scoreless innings on the mound. The righty walked two batters and struck out nine, while Heath Bell earned his NL-leading 21st save of the season by pitching the ninth.

"Boy, that was just a great game," Padres manager Bud Black said on the team's site. "What a performance. I've seen a lot of games in this park from this dugout and that was one of the best pitched games I've seen."

Scott Hairston provided all of the offense for San Diego, going 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in.

The Padres will open a seven-game homestand versus the Astros and Dodgers this evening.

Josh Geer gets the ball tonight for the Padres and is 0-1 over his last six trips to the hill, with his last win coming on May 23 against the Chicago Cubs. Geer recorded a no-decision on Wednesday in a 4-3 loss at Seattle, as he yielded three runs and eight hits in six innings.

Geer, a right-hander, is 1-2 with a 5.86 earned run average in 13 games (11 starts) this season. He faced Houston for the first time on May 10 at Minute Maid Park, and was handed the loss for giving up seven runs -- five earned -- on seven hits in three innings of a 12-5 setback.

Houston swept that three-game series with San Diego from May 8-10 and has won five straight meetings between the clubs.